Better food!

Flaps open till dark!

"...but you cannot possibly win. And when I find out who's behind this," and here he glares at Clarissa, "it will go very hard for them."

More water!

Better food!

Flaps open till dark!

"Pah!" He spits. "I have had enough of this! You shall break, depend upon it!" He goes back out, leaving a confused Hughie holding his ladle over his steaming pot, not knowing what to do. Seeing that Nettles is not with him, I jump down from the Balcony and go to the hatchway. I reach in through the bars and run my hand through Hughie's tousled hair.

"No food yet, Hughie, but we'll be all right, you'll see," I say, 'cause he looks worried. It's been thirty-six hours now since food has crossed our lips.

"Gotta eat, Mary," he mumbles. He dips his ladle in the burgoo and fills a bowl and goes to pass it to me.

"Not yet, Hughie," I say, backing away from the steaming bowl of the now delicious-looking gruel. The girls have come to the end of another cycle of chants, and I say, just loud enough for them to hear and no one else, "All of you are doing just fine. Division One, down for water. Divisions Two and Three, back at 'em." Clap, clap, clap.

As the other two divisions swing back into it, Clarissa and her Division One climb down off the Balcony and have their water cups filled. After they have refreshed themselves, the other divisions will be called down in turn, and the first division will go back up. That way we'll always have at least twenty girls up at the bars at all times, chanting, with one division resting-we don't want anyone's voice to give out.

Clarissa comes over to confer, her nose in her cup. As the water hits her belly, it gives off a threatening growl, demanding more than mere water.

"After they've all drunk their water, we'll go to the second phase of the Plan, all right?"

She grunts in reply. "Right. Do you think they'll hold?"

"They're all right so far. We can only wait and see," I say, and then go back up to my division. A peek out shows that the Captain still stands glowering on his quarterdeck. I slam my cup extra hard against the iron bars and join in the chant.

More water!

Better food!

Flaps open till dark!

When we're done with the last five chant repetitions, I hold up my hand and all fall silent. I count to six, then drop my arm. The girls take a common deep breath and Phase Two begins: Ninety-nine bottles of wine on the wall,

Ninety-nine bottles of wine!

Take one down

And pass it around,

Ninety-eight bottles of wine on the wall!

Ninety-eight bottles of wine on the wall...

And so on and so on, in the classic drive-your-parents-mad ditty. We keep it going, pausing every ten bottles to do five of the regular chant, and then back to those never-ending bottles of wine. The Captain is now pacing back and forth on the deck, right out in front of us. As we get down to fifty bottles of wine, he rushes the cage and kicks at a hand clutching a bar. Minerva barely gets her fingers back in time. He goes back to the quarterdeck, mumbling curses under his breath. His pacing grows more and more agitated as we work our way down through the numbers.

Finally we get to the end.

One bottle of wine on the wall,

One bottle of wine!

Take one down

And pass it around,

No bottles of wine on the wall!

There is a ringing silence.

I count to six, raise my hand, then bring it down. Another common deep breath is taken and...

Ninety-nine bottles of wine on the wall,

Ninety-nine bottles of wine...

That cuts it. The Captain is off the quarterdeck, bellowing, "Chubbuck! Dunphy! To me!" and he charges to the hatchway and plunges down the stairs, followed quickly by his henchmen. Hughie, scared, shrinks back against the wall.

"Open this goddamn door!" he roars, and Sin-Kay, who has heard the commotion and come down as well into the now quite crowded hatchway, pulls out his key and opens the cage door. The enraged Captain Blodgett strides to the center of the Stage.

"All of you, get down here!" he shouts up at us. Nobody moves.

I think of doing the three claps to get them started again, but don't. Let's see what he has to say first, I'm thinking. I catch Clarissa's attention, across from me, on the other Balcony, and nudge Sylvie, beside me. Sylvie looks at me, I nod, and she leads the way. And so we all follow her down to the Stage. Clarissa elbows Cloris and they all follow her.

When we are all assembled on the Stage, we are addressed by the seething Captain.

"Who put you up to this? Who's your leader?" he spits out. "Who? Tell me now, or it will go hard for you."

Silence.

"Captain, it is probably the blon-," says Sin-Kay from the Captain's side.

"Mister Sin-Kay, when I want your damned advice, I'll ask for it. Now take yourself and your Dummy and get back to your cabin! Now!"

Sin-Kay jerks as if slapped. "I must protest," he says, furious at this turn. "I was under the impression that I was in charge of the cargo and I-"

"And you have been doing a damn poor job of it! I will remind you that I am the Captain of this ship and in charge of everything and everyone in it! Now get the hell out of here and take your Dummy with you!"

Sin-Kay holds the Captain's eyes for a moment and then turns abruptly away and goes up the gangway, cuffing Hughie behind the head to show him he is to follow. Hughie looks back at me in confusion and fear as he follows his master out.

After they are gone, the Captain forces himself to take several deep breaths before going on. His fury abates a bit, and a look of sly cunning comes over his face. "It could go very, very well for the one of you who tells me. Very well, indeed."

He goes over and stands before Constance. "How about you? You will tell me, won't you?" Connie shakes her head and the Captain whips out his knife. He grabs her by the neck and puts the point of the knife against her throat. "Tell me or I'll kill you."

Connie, her eyes filled with terror, puts her hands together and says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leadeth me-"

The Captain releases her neck and backhands her to the deck of the Stage. He looks about for his next victim. It turns out he doesn't have to choose.

"W-will you send me home if I tell you?" comes a quavering voice from on his right.

Oh, Elspeth, no!

A smile comes over the Captain's face and he turns to her. "Of course, my dear, I will send you home if you tell me. On my word of honor."

Elspeth's eyes are wild as she holds her supplicating hands up to the Captain. Then she blurts it out.

"Jacky's the one you want! Right there!" she cries, pointing her finger at me. "She's the leader! She's the one who's been a pirate and everything! She put everyone up to this. Oh, I can't stand it here! Take her, take all of them! Just let me go! You'll let me go now, won't you? Now that I've told you? You will, won't you? Oh, you promised you would, you-"

"Take her up on deck!" roars Blodgett, and he ain't talking about Elspeth. He charges back up the hatchway as Chubbuck and Dunphy each grab one of my arms and I am dragged out the gate. I manage one look back at Elspeth's face. She looks at the retreating Captain and then at me.